Slow Cooker Applesauce

Wow. I just want to say a huge THANK YOU for your happy wishes after our big announcement last week! I was so nervous about sharing the news. There were a few high-pitched squeals followed by a jig around 6 a.m. when I hit “publish.” Later this week I’ll be sharing a first trimester recap post. But today, I’m so excited to share with you my new favorite thing: Slow cooker applesauce!

If you’ve never made homemade applesauce before, it far exceeds anything you could buy in a store. The taste, the texture, the color—there’s just nothing like it! Until last week I’d always made homemade applesauce on the stove, cooking apples in a little water until they were soft enough to put through the food mill. Then, it occurred to me that using the slow cooker could mean I wouldn’t have to stand over the stove. Happily, it worked like a charm and will be my go-to method from now on.

For the recipe below I recommend using a food mill. Although there aren’t that many uses for it, I highly recommend acquiring this kitchen gadget. {I imagine it’ll also come in handy when I start making baby food—I can’t wait for that!} Funny side note: The two kitchen tools Robert contributed to our relationship are a food mill and an immersion blender. The man loves his pureed foods!

If you don’t have a food mill, this recipe will still work. You’ll just need to peel and core the apples before quartering them and dumping them into the slow cooker. The reason I prefer to use the food mill, though, is because you get that beautiful pinkish color from cooking the apples with their skins. I promise it’ll still be delish no matter which method you use {instructions for both are below.}

There are so many applesauce recipes on the Internet that call for sugar or butter. That BAH-LOWS my mind because you don’t need anything except apples, cinnamon, and a little water. I have a mega sweet tooth and I guarantee homemade applesauce is sweet enough on its own. I just love this stuff. After cooling the applesauce in the fridge, I packaged it into Ball jars and then froze most of them. We still have two GIANT bags of apples from our apple picking adventure in Michigan a few weeks ago, so I’m sure I’ll be making more batches in the coming weeks.

One more note: The recipe doesn’t contain exact measurements because it depends on the size of your slow cooker and how cinnamon-y you like your applesauce to be. We’re huge cinnamon fans so I sprinkle the stuff pretty liberally. The great news is you can taste as you go to determine a level that makes your taste buds happy.

Slow Cooker Applesauce

Ingredients

A mix of any kind of apples, quartered. If using a food mill, leave the skins on. Use as many as you think will fit into your slow cooker. If you don’t have a food mill, peel and core your apples first.

1 or 2 cinnamon sticks

1/4 to 1 cup of water, depending on the size of your slow cooker. I have a 6.5 quart slow cooker and used about 1 cup of water. If you have a standard 4 quart size slow cooker, I’d recommend about ½ to ¾ cup of water.

Ground cinnamon

Preparation

With a food mill:

Add apples (unpeeled, uncored, and quartered), cinnamon stick(s), and water to slow cooker. The apples can go all the way to the top as long as the lid fits securely on. Cook on low for 4 hours. Lift lid and stir with a wooden spoon. Apples should break down easily when you stir.

Place food mill over a heat-safe bowl and ladle some apples and liquid into the food mill. Turn to make applesauce. You may need to empty the food mill of skin, seeds, and core into the trash a few times while making the applesauce. Continue this process until your slow cooker is empty.

Taste applesauce and add some ground cinnamon, about 1 tsp at a time, until you find a level of cinnamonness that you enjoy!

Without a food mill:

Add apples (peeled, cored, and quartered), cinnamon stick(s), and water to slow cooker. The apples can go all the way to the top as long as the lid fits securely on. Cook on low for 4 hours. Lift lid and stir with a wooden spoon. Apples should break down easily when you stir.

Pour contents of slow cooker into a blender, in batches, or use an immersion blender until you achieve desired consistency.

Taste applesauce and add some ground cinnamon, about 1 tsp at a time, until you find a level of cinnamonness that you enjoy!